l'ivresse des grandes profondeurs
by Sandataba
Summary: While training for the purpose of increasing her chances of survival against the deadly Hoshigaki Kisame, Tenten never expected to confront the shark nin himself. It didn't help that she was suffering from nitrogen narcosis at the time either. Slight Kisame x Tenten with hints of Nejiten in the end.
1. Diving into it

_A/N: Posting this before the manga gets any further and all my confabulation on the possibility of Kisaten is completely annihilated by the awesomeness of Gai and Killer Bee._

* * *

**_l'ivresse des grandes profondeurs_**

* * *

**Chapter 1: Diving into it**

* * *

"Tenten."

His grin made her wary. Contrary to public opinion, Maito Gai's smile could mean many things. Very few people outside of Team Gai could tell the differences, but Tenten, who had grown up learning to distinguish the nuances between Hyuuga Neji's frowns, had by now discerned the portent of each of her sensei's blinding smiles.

This smile promised a training that would be either:

a) insanely difficult,

b) completely embarrassing, or

c) both.

Tenten regularly tried various ways to diffuse or avoid Gai's imposing alternatives b) or c) upon her. Smiling back as earnestly as she could, asking distracting questions about Lee, and mentioning various non-humiliating trainings and missions her idol Tsunade had previously accomplished were among her top gimmicks. However, once the original Green Beast of Konoha made up his mind, it was usually very difficult to derail him from his objective.

"Hai?" she settled for the cautious question.

"We have worked with the strength and vigor of youth to hone your excellent talents as weapons master," Gai said in that fatherly way that he often directed at his students. Just before he began with a training that nearly killed them. "But we cannot neglect the other skills that are equally important in your development and success as a fine and able ninja."

Tenten blinked at him, like a cornered deer. His smile became overpowering and she quickly capitulated, making some sort of sound similar to Lee's exuberant response to a statement from their sensei. Well, it wasn't really very similar to the sound Lee would make, but Gai was content.

"Yes, and for this reason, I have found a small village on the east of Fire Country, which specializes in the training you shall have."

With no further explanation, he had her pack for the trip to the village of Amagoya .

Despite her persistent questions, Gai was surprisingly closemouthed during their travel to the training site. He challenged her to brush up on her interrogation skills to get him to reveal what he had planned. Needless to say, Tenten discovered Gai could in fact rival Kakashi in being deliberately obtuse when he wanted to. His nose might not have been buried in a book of questionable contents, but he would blind her with his pearly whites until she had to leave off and retreat to a safe distance from the sparkles. Despite constant exposure to lovingly maintained glinting metal objects that reflected the light of the sun through careful sharpening and polishing, Tenten was no match for the brilliance that was the smile of a Green Beast.

"Gai-sensei!" she was very nearly at the limit of her considerable patience.

"Ah, we have arrived," once again, she was deflected from her objective and conceded defeat to breaking through Gai's secrecy. She had no doubt after THIS training, her interrogation skills would be up for practice.

Tenten stood atop an overlook and dubiously regarded the small agricultural village below them. The inhabitants went about their mundane business. There was not a training ground in sight, no hidden presences she could sense. Perhaps this was a test for her detection skills?

"What do you see, my loveliest blossom?"

Tenten always wanted to argue that if her parents had intended for people to make botanical references to her, they would have named her Lotus. Or Sakura, though that name was already taken by Lee's crush.

She'd held her tongue before, and she would continue to do so, because her sensei meant well, and who knew, maybe he'd seen a flower with buns somewhere in his travels before Team Gai was formed.

"Just a farming village, sensei."

Then she looked beyond the immediate view to take in the rest of their surrounding landscape, a habit both she and Lee had acquired naturally from growing up with the all-encompassing gaze of a Hyuuga team mate.

"There's another group of houses a little further west, close to the sea." She pointed, shielding her eyes against the setting sun, "They're pretty far-off. Are they part of the same village? If they're on the beach, they probably don't make a living by farming."

Gai was smiling at her. "Very good. Yes, they are part of the same village, and it is with at those houses near the beach where your training lies. Now, let us race to them, while on our hands, before the sun sets!"

"But-" she was speaking to the air. Her mentor had launched himself forward with a shout, rushing downhill with frenetic energy, certain to terrify any small children he met along the way. Tossing her backpack and deftly catching it with her feet as she assumed the same position, Tenten sighed. "Yosh."

* * *

They enjoyed the modest repast of soup, rice, and of course, fish, offered to them by the elderly woman with whom Gai told Tenten she would be staying during the duration of her training. He was still keeping mum on what the training was, exactly, so Tenten treated this like a reconnaissance mission and attempted to pick up clues from her surroundings.

The other women from the neighboring houses had come to greet them. They were very friendly and Tenten almost immediately felt at ease. She noticed that, except for her sensei, there weren't any men around . How strange.

The smell of the sea was strong in the house. There were ropes of seaweed drying outside, the husks of various shellfish in small piles in a corner. When she saw a pair of goggles, she understood.

"Gai-sensei," her voice was subdued, while the conversation of the women flowed over them. "Why am I the only one who's going through this training?"

She knew the answer. Her team mates had endured the effects of the water prison jutsu better than she had during Gai's fight with Kisame a few weeks ago, during their S-class mission to Suna. It hadn't been by much, but she knew their enemy had noticed. He would target her if Team Gai ever encountered him again. She would be the weak link.

Gai's smile was gentle, "That is not true, Tenten. Even as we speak Lee and Neji are submerged in the men's hot springs in Konoha as I instructed them, extending the length of time they can remain under water. I brought you to this village, because it is famed for its women divers. Neji and Lee would be a little out of place here, don't you think?"

* * *

The women welcomed Tenten readily into their group. They were all much older than her, but laughed and chattered like they didn't care. They were a lot like kunoichi, really, and Tenten enjoyed being with them.

Before Gai left, he gave Tenten ample instructions on regulating her chakra to help her swim, hold her breath, combat decompression sickness and inner ear imbalance, and do the Nice Girl Pose underwater. Tenten ignored the last bit of advice, but found the rest of it very useful. Gai tailored his instruction to fit her particular store of chakra, which was very different from a Hyuuga's, and of course nothing like Lee's chakra network. For all his bluster about the value of plain and simple hard work, Gai also knew finesse, and paid attention to every detail with his students. Tenten had learned the value of making every hit count through her sensei. Now, he gave her tips on how to make every breath last.

"One more thing," he turned to face her, expression serious.

Tenten had walked with him to the edge of the forest. Sunlight dappled through the leaves of the trees, casting patterns upon Gai's green jumpsuit. If he stood perfectly still, he would blend with the foliage.

"There is another unhealthy conditon you should guard against, my young blossom. If you go too deep without sufficient preparation, there is a chance you may fall prey to it without even noticing. When you are in this state, your judgment and perception is impaired, and you may endanger yourself and others who are close to you."

"What's it called, sensei?" Tenten asked. _Falling in love_? she wanted to quip.

"It is called-" he paused dramatically, "The Rapture of The Deeps."

She left him rhapsodizing about his made-up water sickness, and returned to the village.

* * *

"Cold!"

The first time she tried to enter the water, she instantly popped right back out. Balancing on the surface with chakra, Tenten watched in awe, teeth chattering, as the women fearlessly dove into the icy waves. Then a hand grabbed her ankle from below and dragged her down into the depths.

As the days passed, she got used to the chilly temperature, and found she rather liked diving for abalone and oysters, octopi and sea urchins. They became targets she had to find and pry off the rocks with a diving tool that she dubbed as her mutant kunai-spatula. Tenten was very deft with her hands, even when freezing, and made a respectable harvest every week. Within days the women were convinced she could hold her own in the deeper waters. Soon she was ranging further off, beyond where even the most experienced would venture.

"You learned very quickly," Hisa told her as they warmed themselves by the fire after a dive. She was sixty years old, yet still one of the best divers among the group,"It took me months to learn to hold my breath for as long as you do."

Tenten laughed, and shivered, edging her back closer to the fire, "Thank you. When I set my eyes on a target, I don't give up till I get it."

"Ah," the older woman shook her head, "You must learn to let go once in a while. It can be dangerous to lose track of time in the sea."

* * *

After a month, Tenten was able to hold her breath for close to nine minutes, far longer than any of the women in the village. Diving season was coming to a close, the sea would soon become too cold to swim in. The women had begun to pack their things for their return to their farms and families further inland.

"We'll bring your bags with us in the wagon," Setsu, her host, told Tenten on the last day. "Maito Gai told me to give you this before we left." She handed Tenten a scroll.

Mystified, and more than a little suspicious, Tenten broke the seal over the scroll, and opened it. As she thought, a burst of smoke signaled the summon of an item.

She stared at the item.

"GAI-SENSEI!" she yelled.

Back in Konoha, Gai noted the disappearance of his special package for his young, youthful student, and grinned in satisfaction. He was certain she would love it.


	2. The drunken fish technique

**Chapter 2: The drunken fish technique**

* * *

Setsu was nearly overcome with laughter, but she helped Tenten stretch and strain and pull herself into the tight confines of an iridescent green fish tail that had appeared out of nowhere. The girl was cursing something fierce, a number of the swear words she had only ever heard from the women themselves. Setsu was rather proud of the young girl's fluency.

"The tail fin is almost as efficient as a our regular fins." The old woman commented helpfully as Tenten glowered at the lower half of her body.

"He _always_ does this," she complained loudly to Setsu, "He tells me he's hidden my weapons scrolls, and he won't give them back until I do whatever silly challenge he's set up for me. He shouldn't be like that. He's my sensei."

"I don't have time for your whining," the woman retorted, "I have to get back to the village as well, so do you want help getting into the water, or not?"

Tenten declined. "Don't wait for me. I'll stay in the shallows, don't worry." And with a toss of her tail, Tenten assumed the position, and hand-walked down the rocky shore towards the waves.

Of course, Tenten's idea of the shallows was somewhat skewed, considering that she came from a team where 800 laps around the training field was considered a light warm up. She shot through the water like a torpedo, moving further and further away from dry land.

_500 dolphin kicks, without taking a breath, my ass_, she thought, disgruntled. Soon, her natural sense of equanimity returned and she glided through the water with less savagery.

_Where am I even going to find a dolphin to kick that many times?_ the humorous thought caused her to sputter and bubbles burst from her throat. With a hand clamped over her mouth, Tenten tried to conserve her air, and swam downwards with a purpose.

She would search for abalone. That would distract her from the pressing need to breathe, and the weird challenge would be over before she knew it. Tenten pressed her lips in resolve and sank down, down, down.

* * *

Was it the three- or the four hundredth kick already? Something wasn't right. But she felt _great_. By her estimate, she hadn't been down for five minutes yet. She wasn't even winded.

Winded. Underwater. Where there wasn't any wind. Tenten giggled, releasing more bubbles and watching dreamily as they floated to the surface. It was kind of a happy place, down here, she thought.

A little ways off, she thought she saw something. It was a dolphin. Might be.

Delighted, Tenten swam over. Her lungs felt odd, but she could hold her breath as long as she liked, she was just that excellent a ninja. She came up to the dark shape.

It wasn't a dolphin. It was a shark. Man. Thing.

It was looking at her.

Grinning, Tenten swam a circle around it in excitement. This was so cool.

_You are so cool_, she tried to tell it. The bubbles she expelled obscured his face.

_Hey_, he looked like he was grinning back, but he had so many sharp teeth, it was hard to tell when he wasn't smiling, _what are you supposed to be_? Unlike Tenten, his voice actually carried through the water. And he didn't spout bubbles.

_Awesome_! She squealed, using the last of her air. Then, with all her might, Tenten leaned forward, and planted a wet one on his lips. Just to check if he had any.

She promptly fainted afterwards.

He watched her sink, possibly contemplating the irony of a mermaid drowning in the water, then chuckled to himself. Releasing the fusion technique, he separated from Samehada and swam down to retrieve the little nin girl.

* * *

On the shore, he carried her slung over his shoulder, after whacking her a bit on the back. She coughed out the water she'd ingested, and proceeded to dribble fluids down his shirt as he walked. Nice.

Her tail paddle slapped against his stomach annoyingly, so he tore that off, revealing that she did indeed have normal feet encased in the bright green stretchy fabric. He wondered what possessed her to ever don such an impractical and constricting prop, but smirked at the memory of how very fish-like she had looked in it.

Reaching his camp, a distance a way from the beach and within the protection of some trees, he placed her on the ground and started a fire. The girl was breathing normally, but looked rather pathetic with her legs still bound up and only her toes showing.

Kisame paused. Yes, he actually felt sorry for her. She had been swimming around dressed like a mermaid, for kami's sake. And she was obviously a ninja, she utilized chakra control to cut through the water faster than a normal human could. Not well enough to be from Mist Country, but still pretty good.

He prodded her with a foot. "Oi. Wakey-wakey."

Samehada had not been impressed with her chakra. Then again, it took a lot to whet the sword's appetite. She was probably completely drained. It was a surprise she was still alive.

"GAH!"

Tenten sat up in terror, feeling utterly helpless and impotent when she reached for a kunai, a senbon, a scroll, and found _nothing_. Where was she? Why was she so cold? Why was she wearing _green_?

There was a blue toe nudging her on the side. She followed the toe's connection to a blue foot, a leg that was most likely blue but encased in long pants so it couldn't be seen, a long torso, the beginnings of a blue chest peeking out of the ragged shirt, blue adam's apple, and up into the grinning cobalt countenance of a member of the Akatsuki that she remembered very well.

_Hoshigaki Kisame!_

"Gonna try to get away, little fish?" he plucked a knife from somewhere and dropped it on her lap. "Go on. Get yourself out of that weird costume, and let's see what you're made of."

Tenten grabbed the blade and, keeping one eye on the huge man smiling with sharp, sharp teeth down at her, she ripped into the ruined tail, freeing her legs.

Hoshigaki Kisame, Monster of the Mist. He liked to shave.

Wait, that didn't sound right. His weapon Samehada shaved skin off flesh, and flesh off bone, and only he could use the sword because of the immense chakra it required. He was a cold-blooded killer, a member of the Akatsuki, and enjoyed fighting, a lot.

A Chuunin against an S-class criminal. Her chances of survival were laughable.

Tenten grit her teeth. NOTHING is set in stone, she echoed the mantra she had learned from watching Neji's match against Naruto. This guy could be having a bad day. He could be drastically weakened from a previous fight with another S-class ninja. He could be sick and haggard, which was why he looked so blue. He could have suddenly become a pacifist. If there was even a slightest chance Tenten could escape, she had to try.

Okay!

Tenten ju-

Then she sp-

Backpedaling, she-

Each and every time, the Mist nin predicted, out-manouevered, and plain thwarted any move she even began to THINK to make. It ended up with the large, ugly sword he was carrying held perilously close to her neck.

Yes, there were some weapons Tenten thought were ugly. Simply because she couldn't wield them. They transformed into things of wondrous beauty in her eyes, of course, once she was able to get her hands on them.

"You actually took my challenge seriously. Why did you even try?" Kisame laughed. She couldn't possibly have hoped to win against him.

He planted Samehada on the ground directly in front of the girl, while he stood behind her, with a warning nudge to show any false moves on her part would result in another bout of chakra-drain.

Keeping her eyes on the ugly, ugly thing in front of her, Tenten said, "I don't understand your question. I have more to gain by trying, don't I?"

He rumbled again in laughter, "No."

"Well, that's your opinion!" Tenten couldn't help it. She was disoriented, tired, only in a bathing suit, and had a very disturbing notion that at some point earlier today, she had smooched the Akatsuki shark nin behind her, although she was fuzzy on the details.

She could _feel _him grinning behind her.

"Tell me, kunoichi," the man said in that raspy voice of his, it fit him and his gigantic carving knife well, "why do you seem so familiar to me?"

Tenten realized then, that with her hair down and without her forehead protector, Kisame must not recognize her as a Leaf ninja, moreso one he had encountered in battle as a member of Team Gai.

"I have a very common sort of face," she chanced a glance backwards, pitching her voice slightly lower in case he remembered how she sounded, from the little she had said during the last fight.

"That's not it," he gave her a speculative look, "Are you sure we aren't soul mates?"

"WHAT?"

He chuckled. "Not everyday I meet a mermaid, after all."

Tenten should have been freezing, clad only in a bikini. Instead, a hot blush suffused her entire being. "It was training, all right? Building up stamina-"

"For when you're trapped in a Water Prison?"

Damn, he remembered her. He'd just been playing.

"Must be the idea of that green idiot team captain of yours, eh?" he grinned at her, "Can't say I don't appreciate the effort." It was difficult to distinguish his grin from his leer. Wait, that was definitely a leer.

Tenten turned around and raised a hand, scowling, "Look. He's not an idiot. He beat your clone okay?" If she couldn't fight him with fists, she would at least go down fighting using words.

The leer disappeared. He inclined his head at her. "You Leaf ninja." It was almost admiring, the way he said it. "Your loyalties to each other and your village are pretty strong, eh. It must have really hurt when Itachi's brother betrayed your village."

It made sense that Kisame would know about Sasuke, being the elder Uchiha's partner.

"Yes," she answered steadily, "But Naruto will bring him back."

She'd witnessed the loudmouth rookie win against Neji, change her team mate's entire life outlook, learned that he was the reason her idol Tsunade agreed to become Hokage, and watched him save Gaara from certain death by contributing his enormous chakra.

Tenten had seen enough of Uzumaki Naruto to know he would do what he promised. And he had promised to bring back Sasuke to Konoha.

Kisami grunted. "Yet more declarations of belief and loyalty. Doesn't it get tiresome, little girl, putting so much faith in people?"

Tenten stood her ground, "Again, I have more to gain this way."

"Making something noble sound selfish. Cute," he reached out and Tenten flinched, but he only grabbed his sword from behind her, yanking it out of the ground. "Well, it's been fun."

And then he raised Samehada.

Desperate, Tenten knew she had make her death worthwhile, take him out too, somehow. Bringing her hands together as fast as she could, she tried to perform the suicide jutsu, consisting of only one special seal.

Suicide jutsus were forbidden techniques, but every ninja of Chuunin level and up knew at least one. It was kind of a morbid in-joke among them.

He grabbed her, easily wrapping his large hand around both of hers. "Whoa there. I wasn't going to do anything."

Tenten gaped up at him. The hand holding Samehada merely fastened the huge weapon in its customary place on his back.

"Warn me beforehand that you aren't going to kill me, then!" she yelled. She could NOT take this abrupt swinging about from one extreme emotion to the next! Honestly, it was worse than what Lee put her through, whenever he made her worry.

Then she processed her last words, and blinked. Kisame was guffawing loudly. And he was still holding her hands.

The texture of his skin was intriguing. Not merely callused, but scaly. At first, when he wrapped his fingers about hers, it felt smooth to touch . But rubbed in a different direction, tiny placoid scales presented an abrasive surface that could scrape off layers of her own skin.

Some of her sword hilts and scabbards were made of sharkskin, Tenten recalled. The scales were ground down to provide a useful rough leather that gave a good grip. Kisame certainly had a good grip. On her. And none of her swords felt this warm.

Dammit, this was no time to be blushing!

His chuckles died off, and he regarded her with interest.

"I myself, do not turn red, but change to a strange shade of purple when I'm angry," he shared, although from his knowing look Tenten guessed he could tell that she was not flushed from fury. Stupid shark.

"How old are you, little girl?" looking like he wasn't going to let go any time soon, Kisame sank down casually on one knee so they were at eye level with each other.

"Sixteen, and I'm not little. You're just really tall."

"Hm." He kept an iron hold on her. "Hardly legal, but then, I haven't bothered with the law for a while now."

She paled.

"I could cut off your hands, no more worries about silly suicides," he mused, and now Tenten felt very, very cold. "Would your beloved team captain have any use for you afterwards, do you think? Could the jinchuriki save you right now?"

Silence filled the clearing. Tenten stared, frozen with fear, into the shark nin's face. Her heartbeat thundered in her chest, her mind emptied of coherent thought. To think, just a moment earlier, she'd been stupidly mouthing off and blushing that he was holding her hands and kneeling like he was about to propose.

"Is..." her voice was unsteady. She swallowed and tried again, licking her lips, watching him watch her with a killer's eyes, "Is that what the Akatsuki is about? Are you a group of S-class criminals who just go around mutilating and murdering, or do you have an actual goal by hunting down the tailed beasts?"

Kisame threw back his head and laughed and laughed.

"I threaten you with torture and a slow death, and you try to interrogate me!" he chortled. "Now that's what I call dedication." His eyes sharpened, "Or perhaps you have a technique that allows you to retain and transmit the information you've gathered even after I kill you?"

"Speaking of techniques," Tenten tried to evade, "What's that form you were in earlier? A fusion with the Samehada?"

"Oho," he wrapped his other smooth-rough hand around her waist and dragged her closer. His smile faded slightly. "You remember that, do you?" It was almost a soft croon.

Tenten realized that she may have witnessed a secret technique that he was keeping in reserve for his next encounter with an enemy, maybe even for the purpose of attacking Konoha. He would have to kill her now, wouldn't he? Probably he would _play _with her first, listen to her screams for a while.

Tenten had certainly lived a good life. Annoying at times, but then again, she wouldn't change her team mates for the world.

"I do," she said.

The shadows grew around them, and they continued their face off, Kisame watching her with a strange mixture of amusement and contemplation, Tenten staring back, pale and terrified, but resolute.

His thumb grazed her spine lightly. It felt like being rubbed by a dry loofah. Tenten controlled a shiver. Now was no time to be ticklish.

"What did you think of it?" he asked.

Her gaze strayed to the gigantic weapon that fit the size of the man in front of her, "I think it's awesome. Perfect unity between weapon and wielder is something all who specialize in weapons strive for."

She turned her eyes back to him. "I also think such an ability should be used for good."

He pulled her even closer, so his hand could splay across her entire back and warm her.

"Spare me the rhetoric. What does it matter which 'side' I fight on? It doesn't affect either my ability or the outcome of the battle." His face, already cruel, took a harder expression, "Being 'good' isn't helping you much right now, is it?"

"Not right now," she admitted, "But it helped my team against you before. So I know that, even if I'm not strong enough now to fight you alone, because of my team, and my choice to do good, I do have a chance to eventually surpass you."

He smiled at her. It wasn't a nice smile.

"That's hardly what Uchiha Sasuke thinks. Konoha was too soft for him. There is no way you could ever rise to my level, girl, unless you leave that all behind."

Was he offering her something?

Tenten shook her head.

"I can and I will," Tenten insisted. In many ways, she could be as mule-headed as Gai or Lee, when faced with insurmountable odds. She was in no position to argue with the shark nin. He held all the power, and she couldn't back up her ideals with a sudden surge of chakra, secret bloodline limit or fancy hidden move that would catch him by surprise to prove that good really did always win. In other words, she was royally screwed. But she was Tenten, and she had lived a good life. So she did what she could.

She flexed her fingers inside his hand, to delicately rub against his palm, in what she hoped would pass for an involuntary movement. The texture of his skin really was quite fascinating. If he was going to kill her, she might as well indulge in one last curiosity.

His smile had widened into a grin at her attempts to be unobtrusive.

"Unwavering faith in others, and in yourself. You're a passionate little thing, aren't you."

Surprise did not begin to describe the look on her face.

Slowly, teasingly, he unwrapped his hands from her, finger by finger, careful not to leave scratches. He let his touch linger on her waist as she very warily drew away.

"I enjoyed our kiss."

He watched her already-wide eyes grow even bigger as he confirmed her hazy memory. Smugly, Kisame hoped she remembered that at least, in that body area, his hide did not feel like sandpaper.

He stood, towered over her.

"I'm not going to kill you," he announced, before removing his sword, shedding his shirt and tossing the piece of clothing onto her.

He made a shooing motion with his hand, "Let's not meet again anytime soon, eh? Come back when you can take Samehada from me."

He laughed at her expression as she stood shivering and clutching his shirt. "Don't think I didn't notice how you were looking at it."

Tenten took one step, then another step backwards. When she got beyond the range of firelight, she vanished in a swirl of leaves and got the hell out of there.

"That is the first time I have seen you spare a Leaf ninja voluntarily," Itachi's low voice commented from the shadows.

Kisame shrugged, retrieving his weapon. "I can do that once in a while. Not too often, Samehada gets sulky."

Inwardly, Itachi had the very boyish urge to rib his partner for flirting so shamelessly with the young kunoichi, albeit through threats of mutilation and assault. He kept his silence, though, knowing Kisame was sensitive about his strange coloring and how it affected his luck with the ladies.

"Aren't you worried she'll tell Gai about your new ability?"

Kisame chuckled, "It won't make a difference."

He wasn't over-confident. He just liked the challenge.


	3. Part of that world

**Chapter 3: Part of that world**

* * *

Gai was concerned.

Tenten's scrolls and bags were at the spot they agreed to meet in for the trip back to Konoha, delivered by wagon, but the girl herself was over an hour late. He had trained even the slightest inclination towards tardiness out of each of his students through grueling punishment, ensuring that there was no way any of them would end up like his perpetually late rival Kakashi. Even if everyone around them died, Gai was determined that the habit of punctuality would be so ingrained that they would never linger before the burial mounds of their fallen allies to the point that they ignored all else. It was unhealthy, in his opinion, and prevented one from fully healing and moving on.

He wanted so much to say all this to Kakashi, but instead, he would train this next generation of youthful ninja to always be on time.

Tenten was late. He knew it had to be something serious. He had been tracking her for a while now. He'd just returned from the beach, learning that she had left much earlier, for a swim. The sun was sinking over the horizon, and it would be much harder to track at night. He covered every visible part of the shore and surrounding land within a five kilometer range from the village and found nothing.

"Sensei!"

With an explosive shimmer of youthful relief, he opened his arms wide, crying out with joy, and to his shock, Tenten slammed into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and babbling hysterically.

* * *

Gai was grave.

The moment Tenten told him there were Akastuki in the area, he had summoned a traveling cloak from a scroll and wrapped it around her shoulders, over the torn black shirt she wore, ordered her on his back, and set off at top speed back to Konoha. All Leaf ninja were under strict orders not to engage the enemy alone, and while he had confidence in Tenten's fighting prowess, she had just been drained of chakra within an inch of her life.

As they traveled, she told him about the encounter, omitting nothing.

"I have never mentioned this," Gai spoke afterwards, sounding thoughtful, "but I believe our entire team would be particularly resistant to Samehada's effects. Lee has never depended overly upon chakra, what with his concentration on pure taijutsu, while your sparring with Neji has accustomed you as well to adjusting accordingly even when almost all your chakra points are sealed. This may be why you're still alive now."

Tenten made a face, glad that she could since she was behind Gai and he couldn't see her impudence, "The reason I'm alive is because Kisame didn't think I was worth killing at the moment, sensei."

"That was later," it was strange, how she could tell he was displaying his pearly whites even when he wasn't facing her, "I was speaking of your initial chakra drain which caused you to pass out. As for why you remained alive afterwards, the reason for that is obvious. Your _youthful spirit _impressed him."

Tenten wondered if it would be wrong to strangle her teacher.

* * *

Kurenai was somber.

Releasing the girl from the genjutsu, she nodded at Gai. "I didn't find anything they might have wiped from her memory, or any hypnotic jutsu placed on her."

Ever since the discovery that the Akatsuki had infiltrated Suna through the use of a mind control jutsu on one of its most trusted sand nin, all the hidden villages had been screening their own shinobi with greater intensity.

"We need to tell Ibiki." Kakashi said.

Gai was aghast. "Tenten is not a spy!"

"Not that she knows," the Copy Nin retorted.

"Knowing him, he'd capitalize on the Akatsuki's apparent attraction to the girl, and use her as shark bait," Genma swished his senbon to and fro, "Not a bad idea, I'd think."

Tenten frowned. She was _right there_.

Gai knelt before his precious team's flower, tears streaming from his eyes. "You would not betray your village to elope with this blue-skinned criminal, would you my blossom?"

"Please do not talk nonsense."

The dry voice cut through their discussion, and Hyuuga Neji stepped forward to grasp Tenten's hand, pulling her up from where she sat on the bench.

"I will personally see to it that she will be fine. There is no need to keep grilling her like this," He tugged at her hand for her to follow him.

"Huh," Tenten tugged back, "How about we go to Ibiki and you treat me to dinner after the questioning? I won't go around pretending everything's normal when everyone doubts my loyalty."

"We didn't say that." Kurenai hurriedly began but Tenten waved her off.

"I was ready to have my body parts shaved off piece by piece by the enemy, why not torture and interrogation by my own village?"

She faced them squarely. Silence reigned, then, one by one, each of the jounin began to smile. Gai's tears continued to flow endlessly, but his expression was now one of overwhelming pride in his student, the youthful blossom of Team Gai.

"We trust you, Tenten," Kakashi said at last. He appraised her with his single exposed eye. "You're a shinobi of the Leaf, after all."

With that, he, Genma and Kurenai went their separate ways, with casual waves of goodbye. They would speak no more of this to anyone. Team Gai would watch over their own.

Neji shook his head, "Treat you to dinner after... Like it was going to be a walk in the park."

Once Tenten submitted herself for questioning, with a story like that, there was no guarantee they would ever allow her on active duty again.

He grasped her hand once more, "How about breakfast _now_?"

"An Excellent Idea!" boomed Gai, badly frightening his two students, "Lee and I shall meet you at the usual place! Tenten's successful training is a cause for celebration!" and with one last Good Guy Pose, he too disappeared from sight.

Neji and Tenten looked at the empty spot where their sensei had been. Then they looked at each other. Then, still holding hands, they began to walk to their favorite restaurant.

"So," Neji asked, "Am I ever going to know what exactly Gai made you do for training?"

"Don't hold your breath." Tenten warned.

* * *

_End_.

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**Extra**

* * *

"No Gai."

"Gai, no."

"For the love of kami, get away from me."

Gai could not understand it. These were his friends, and they themselves had suggested that Tenten be used as bait to lure the shark nin into a trap.

"What is wrong with my disguise, Kakashi?" he demanded, posing in as girlish a manner as he could, "Is this not a perfect copy of my team's youthful blossom? I shall go in her stead and trick the Akatsuki into revealing their master plan to me!"

Kakashi shut his eye, trying to block the image that was now burned into his retina, "You always _sucked_ at henge no jutsu Gai. For one thing, Tenten does NOT have your eyebrows. Or your teeth. Or your... fashion sense."

"Yes, I have improved on those features sadly lacking from the flower of Team Gai, obviously," Gai gave a thumbs up, but Kakashi refused to look at him. "Could you do any better?"

And so transpired the latest challenge between eternal rivals Maito Gai and Hatake Kakashi - a Tenten-lookalike contest!

Neji had a conniption when they tried to make him judge.

* * *

_A/N: This is a semi-fluff tribute to the angst/romance fic "Sharkskin", by DeidreFoxington. It was the best KisaTen I ever read, but the story got wiped from her profile along with all her other fics, and she's still re-writing them all. If anyone still has a copy of her stories, do help by sending them over to her. _

_In that story, Kisame's skin was a wonderful symbolism of the idealogical obstacles between him and Tenten, providing a physical manifestation of the impossibility of their coming together. In this story, the scales were simply a point of interest that helped Tenten distract herself from her impending death, but I put it in just the same because it's such a great idea. Hope you enjoyed it. _


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